Monthly Archives: September 2017

When your bandwidth doesn’t oblige, sharing videos via Google Photos can be a bit frustrating. Videos are, well, large. And uploading large files can take a while, especially if you’re in a congested area, on a throttled connection, or traveling. But now Google Photos has cut down the wait by uploading low-resolution copies for sharing first. And don’t worry, your friends won’t be stuck with blurry potatoes, those videos are later replaced with high-quality versions.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock, you should be familiar with Google Photos, which is arguably one of the best products Google ever released.

Looking for a pair of truly wireless earbuds on the cheap? Samsung’s got just the thing for you: it’s selling the first-generation Gear IconX for only $ 49.99 – a whopping $ 150 off its MSRP. But given the ridiculously low price, you’ll probably have to hurry.

The Gear IconX was Samsung’s first attempt at true wireless earbuds. It excelled in most departments, but fell down in one major arena: battery life. That means that you’ll get good sound and a good fit, but for only about 1.5 hours over Bluetooth.

LG announced its Google Home integration back in May, but at the time only a few models from its Signature line of appliances was compatible with the Assistant. LG is expanding this list now to 87 WiFi-connected refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, vacuums, air purifiers, A/Cs, and more.

The integration first requires your appliance to be set up through the LG SmartThinQ app (wow, terrible ratings), and then you have to link that to your Assistant.

Do you remember the NEXT Live EMEA 2017 G Suite product roadmap talk where we discovered a small line of text telling us Calendar would get a new web interface in Q4 2017? As it turns out, there’s more to that presentation, but we’re so perpetually busy here that we couldn’t check out the video in its entirety. If we did, we would have spotted something else, just as interesting.

There are times when Google completely baffles us by adding a feature that we didn’t even remotely think could be possible, or needed, or useful. Like now for example, there’s a new Search bar when you visit the list of Assistant actions. How groundbreaking!

Whether you check the list by tapping the blue icon on the top right after launching Assistant, or by browsing in the Google Home app, you can see a new search bar on top.

There are a few rugged smartphones on the market, like the Galaxy Active series or the LG X Venture. But maybe those aren’t tough enough for you. Do you need a phone that will survive “fields, underwater and other outdoor environments”? What about one that is “manly, strong, and special in market”? If so, the Doogee S60 might be for you.

The S60 (no, not that S60) has a super durable design made of “a special material” and is covered in a gold finish, because who says tough phones have to be ugly?

When it comes to smart lights, I prefer the LiFX approach to the Hue approach: no hub dangling off my router and simple Wi-Fi connectivity win me over every time. LiFX also makes it very simple to pick lights for different regions depending on voltage and Edison screw, which you’d think would be an easy choice for other companies to offer. And now it looks like you’ll have more than the voltage/screw to choose from as LiFX is making its new range of Mini bulbs available for pre-order.

USB Type-C is great, but not all Type-C batteries are created equal. There are a lot of different charging standards right now, so one battery might fast charge a phone with Qualcomm Quick Charge, but it won’t fast charge a Pixel or work to power a Type-C laptop. The giant RAVpower 26,800mAh battery pack will, and it’s on sale for $ 55.99, down from $ 79.99.

This device is more expensive than other batteries for several reasons.